Butterfly Bones
by hideousbeauty
Summary: A mother tells her son about a girl she used to love... Eventual Faberry. Might get a little sad. Rated for language and abusive nature.
1. Chapter 1: A Tale to Be Told

_They beat her. They beat her, and she cried- cried herself to sleep every night. One night I saw her outside her house as I drove by. Her forehead was bleeding, and she was crying as they both stood at the door screaming, not caring who saw. I wanted to stop, to do something, to help… But we were never close, never friends. She hated me, in fact, and it might have just made everything worse for her- and that was something I would never have wanted. _

_I tried to be nice to her at school. No one seemed to acknowledge the bruises, the cuts, the tears… Everyone saw the smile she wore and pretended nothing was wrong. Once, a girl spoke up and said that she had read a note of suicide in the girls' bathroom that looked like familiar hand-writing, but no one seemed to care or do anything or speak up. The girl just dropped it and went on. _

_When I asked around, there were rumors. Rumors that she had turned to drugs and things like that, that she was going to drop out of school and that she had no more dreams…_

_That was years ago. I was young, and I didn't know that there was anything I could do. I tried, I really did. We both did at one point. She saw I was the only one reaching out, and she wanted help- I could see it in her eyes. But it wasn't ever enough… Sometimes the pressure got to be too much. She cut herself, stopped eating. It was sad. I stopped eating with her, just because it was something I could actually control. It seemed like everything else was spinning out of control…_

_And here we are now… Standing here, talking about her. I'm telling you about this girl, this beautiful girl, that all she needed was some help, someone to care… _

_But she can't speak for herself now…_


	2. Chapter 2: A Day in a Life

"**I hope that this chapter fits better than my first attempt at it. I love getting your opinions through reviews and feedback and such, and hopefully I'm not letting you guys down! If you have any ideas or anything like that, feel free to let me know, and I'll try and incorporate them into the story to make it better. **

**Keep in mind (DISCLAIMER): Glee and any of its characters or trademarks are not mine and therefore I am not trying to make any sort of infringements. This story is my own words and therefore, I am responsible for it. **

**R&R and help me out!"**

I used to watch her from the bleachers. She would smile as they lifted her of the ground. I sometimes wondered what she was thinking behind that smile- if she were truly happy and enjoying herself or if she were only happy because in those few moments, she was flying. She always seemed happiest off the ground like that, pouting a little again as her feet touched down. I used to bring my notebook and write down what I thought her face was saying.

Once, some of the others caught me watching them. That's when they all began to call me a lesbian and say that I was only watching them because I liked to see them in their skirts. She didn't defend me, not that I imagined she would, but I did notice that in these times, she didn't join in with them. I used to try and egg her on, to see if I could make her smile at my expense. But to my surprise, she would simply walk away. Her friends defended her, saying that she was too good for the 'likes of me', but I saw something behind her eyes. What it was, though, I still couldn't tell for sure.

I continued to watch them at their practices, bringing my notebook along. I tried my hand at drawing her faces, to maybe see if I could analyze them more later. I found the more I did this, the more I really enjoyed it and found her beauty. Her eyes seemed to become more and more empty as the days passed, yet still I hadn't approached her…

Late one night, I became inspired. That was the night that I climbed out of my bed and stole my fathers' truck to speed to her house. Just as I was pulling up, I heard it. A screaming that sounded faint, but grew as the front door of her house opened. She came stumbling out, her blonde hair a dirty mess. Her parents were standing in the doorway, her mother half-heartedly holding her father back. Somehow, she felt the urge to look up. Our eyes met, and I saw the blood trickling down her forehead before she looked away. Was she telling me to leave? Why would she have wanted me to stay? I could only have made it worse. I sped away, not wanting to look back and see the pain on her face again. I chanced one look up in my mirror to see her being hit by her now free father. I wondered if I had only made it worse as I cried and returned to my house.

The next day was Sunday. I wouldn't be seeing her at school because it was the weekend, and I was too afraid of making things worse for her to return to her house. I lied in my bed all day, wondering what she was going through or why this would be happening…

Monday, I saw her at her locker. A bruise peeked out from under the long sleeved sweater, but she quickly pulled it down. I wondered if I had imagined it… Approaching her slowly, I gulped. "Quinn…?" I chanced, my voice quiet.

She looked up, her once bright, green eyes were hollow from lack of sleep. Something else was wrong with them, but she looked down too quickly for me to really see. "Berry…" Her voice was a little rasp. I saw yet another bruise peeking out from one of her golden locks.

"I… I wanted to talk to you about Saturday…" A tear gathered in my eye, but I quickly blinked it away. I felt as though I needed to be strong for this girl. "About what I saw, or… think I saw."

"That was you?" Quinn kept her head and eyes low. Turning back to her locker, she fumbled for something inside of it. I couldn't see exactly what she was doing, but she stopped after a moment and pulled out her Spanish book. Before she could grasp it enough, it slipped and fell from her fingertips. She stood there for a moment and sighed.

When I saw that she wasn't making any attempt to pick it up, I bent down. "I'll get it." I stood and held the book out to her.

After a moment, she slowly reached out and gingerly took the book from my outstretched hands. "Thanks, Berry…" She didn't look at me as she slowly put another book in her arms back into her locker. I noticed that there was something different about this book than the one I held in my own arms even though it was for the same subject, but again, it was gone before I could notice. "What is it exactly that you want to talk about? You saw something that now you feel like you should come and make me feel better about? What makes you think that you can?"

I shook my head. "N-no… I just thought… I wanted to tell you that if you ever need to talk, I'm here, Quinn."

For some reason, this seemed to stop her. She looked up and forward at her locker a little bit before looking back down. She closed her eyes and a look of pain seemed to faintly play at her features. "Meet me here after school, alright? But do _not _mention this to anyone, Berry. I could end whatever you think you have at this school in a matter of seconds." She slammed her locker and walked in the other direction slowly.

Noticing that at some point the bell had rung while we were talking, I watched as she walked away from me in a bare hallway. I nodded to myself. I wanted to help this girl. She was hiding secrets from the world, but all I wanted her to know for sure is that she would always have someone that she could talk to. I may not be her best friend, I might never have been that, but I was someone she didn't have to hide things from… Everyone could use that.

During school for the rest of that day, I tried to think of things to say to her, but my ideas flowed too quickly and when I tried to think of them again, they wouldn't come back just right. I thought about maybe just trying to make it up as I went when I actually talked to her… But how do you approach asking someone if their parents beat them?

I saw her throughout the day. The Latina and her girlfriend that were also on the cheer team never left Quinn's sides. She never seemed to be looking at anything. She kept her head low and let her friends make her way through the halls.

My heart broke as I wondered if they knew her secret. Little did I know that I didn't know as much as I thought I did…

"**If you're interested in all things Faberry, check out and follow me on .com and leave me ideas and such on there! :D"**


	3. Chapter 3: The Second Secret

After school that day, I waited at her locker for a short while. When it seemed that almost everyone else in the school was gone, I saw her. She kept her head low and even seemed to just be counting her steps as she walked toward me. I wasn't sure if she had even noticed me standing there. I backed up a step, not wanting to irritate her already by blocking her locker door.

She stopped in front of me, and I held my breath. When she paused, I exhaled slowly but a bit more heavily than I meant to. She looked toward the ground at my feet, "Rachel…?"

I couldn't tell if it was a question or her stating my presence. "H-hey, Quinn." I smiled meekly, but she didn't seem to notice.

She paused for a moment. "Could you unlock my locker?" She asked pulling a key ring out of her pocket. "It's the smallest key."

"Oh, yeah, of course." I faltered a moment as our hands touched when I took the keys, her skin so much colder than my own. "Wait…" I did as she asked and used the smallest key to unlock the little golden lock on her locker door. "Aren't the lockers all done by combination locks?"

She nodded. "When you're me, you get special rights, Berry." She seemed to grin in just the slightest manner.

I smiled at her remark. "Ah. I had no idea." I chuckled lightly.

She laughed a little too. "You'll learn." She promised as she put the books in her arms into her locker. "So, Berry. You're here to be my psychiatrist, hm?: She lowered her head again. "Because you saw them? …The real them, I mean."

I lowered my head. "I just…. Everyone could use someone to talk to who will just listen." I lowered my own head and decided to focus on her fisted hand at her side.

"And you're going to be that for me?" She sounded genuinely confused. "Do you… Do you want me to be the same or something? You think because you know one of my secrets that you have a new friend? Or are you expecting to get more secrets to use against me and ruin my life here?"

"No!" I looked at her, pleading with my eyes for her to understand, but she never looked at me. "You don't have to talk to me at all, Quinn. I just thought… I won't even talk, you can just-"

"No." She interrupted me firmly. "If we do this, you have got to talk. Otherwise, it's like you're not even there… It'd be like me just talking to a wall, and I could do that at home, thanks." She seemed to get a little worked up.

I nodded as she calmed down a bit. "Okay, Quinn…" I stopped for a moment. "Quinn… Is something wrong?"

Quinn sighed. She paused for a moment before answering. "I walk these halls every day, and no one cares about other people, do you know that? No one seems to notice anything to do with anyone else. Someone could literally be dying, and no one would care. It's like we're all in this building together, but no one else is there…"

"…Aren't you kind of one of those people…? I'm not trying to be cruel or anything, but…" I almost stopped myself, but from all the years of going through this for years now, I didn't see how she could be coming from this point of view now.

She sighed. "I used to, yes…" She shook her head, "But not anymore… Not by choice…" She lowered her head again.

"What… What do you mean?"

I saw a tear trickle down her cheek. Maybe I shouldn't have asked… But what happened, I wasn't expecting…

Quinn Fabray has walked these halls every day since our sophomore year since she transferred here, and ever since her first day, she's been on top of the world. She was the youngest to ever be captain of the Cheerios and the youngest to win homecoming queen. I saw her every day as I left school out on the field atop a pyramid of other girls in the same uniform, yet she always stood out. I've seen her laugh a million times, whether because she was happy or because someone else wasn't. I've seen those bright green eyes of hers light up so many times- about homecoming, the Cheerios, Finn Hudson, her perfect attendance awards, or what have you.

This year, of course, I hadn't seen them light up. She missed school a lot this year, so her record was more than lacking. Finn had left her yet again for a different Cheerio. Now she stood out because the rest of the people around her would be smiling, and she would have her head low and just walk, barely even talking to them. Maybe it wasn't that they didn't see, but that she didn't want them to…

She inhaled deeply, bringing me out of whatever I had been in that had only lasted a few moments. Before I could apologize and take back what I had said, she finally looked up at me. I gasped aloud as her eyes were revealed, a gray-blue tinted film covering the entirety of them. My mouth opened slightly and a small noise escaped my lips as I took a step back. "Q-Quinn, I…" I began to tear up at her condition.

"This is where we can begin our talks." She shut her locker and held out her hand. "Take me to your car. We can talk at your house, and Berry? Don't cry."

I wiped away a tear before it had time to trickle down my face before gently grabbing her hand. As my fingers wrapped around her hand, I looked at her even though I knew now that she couldn't see me. "I'll be your eyes." I promised, and if anything else happened after the talking or anything, I knew one thing- I was going to keep that promise.

"**I cried while thinking about Quinn being blind… I hope in the next chapter I can really show that, maybe even make you cry? With love. 3" **


	4. Chapter 4: Do You Want Anyone to Know?

_My parents started fighting last year. My sister and her baby had just been killed in a car crash, and I think it was all too much for them… They began the fighting amongst each other, but I think they realized it wasn't helping anything. I thought it would just stop, but instead, they began taking out their anger and frustration by hitting me. I was surprised at first, but I let them do it. I thought that maybe I was helping by letting them feel better, and that it would end soon when they saw that this wasn't going to help either. But it didn't stop. After a few months, it became more of a routine than a coping thing, and it was about time for school to start. I had no idea how to hide the bruises, and I knew it needed to stop before Cheerio practice where people would be grabbing onto where the bruises were and a short skirt didn't hide my legs well._

_At first, I just tried to stay out later with Santana and Brittany, hoping that if they saw that they didn't need to hit on me every night, eventually it would stop. But that night when I came home, they were gone and my room was trashed. I didn't even see them for the next few days… Thinking that they had simply left me, I stayed at home, hoping that they would come back for me. Bad parents or not, they were my parents, and I felt even worse thinking that they had simply left me…_

_But they came back the next week. I was beaten more than I had the entire time- them both ganging up on me at once. I couldn't even go to the summer Cheerio practice for a few days after that… _

_When school got closer, I knew that this had to end. I didn't want them to leave, but I didn't want the whole school knowing that the Fabrays weren't perfect anymore either. When I stood up to them…_

_My dad, he… He…_

I didn't know if I was going to hear anymore after that. I was sitting on my bed, staring at Quinn Fabray as she told me her story. Tears were streaming down both of our faces, and I didn't have any idea of what to say. My heart was breaking already for this girl, and as she told me the whole story, it felt as if all of the air and happiness had been taken from the room. I waited patiently for her to finish, not sure if I should reach out and grab her hand comfortingly or not. I decided to do so, to let her know I was really still here. I laced my fingers with hers and gently rubbed my thumb over the top of her hand, silently begging for her to continue.

Quinn inhaled sharply and in a staggered intake before opening her mouth to speak again, this time more slowly. "My dad tried to… Rape me…" She finally admitted. "I screamed at him, rose my fists to him… I struck my dad, Rachel, and it hurt more than anything he had done to me. I tried to run after that, making it back to the den where mom was just sitting there, acting like she had no idea what was going on. Like she couldn't know…" She sighed. "My dad chased me to the fire place where Mom had lit a fire. He picked up a log from the pile and swung it at me. I'm not sure if he would have actually hit me with a burning log, but the sparks that flew off of it flew into my eyes. I was in the hospital for a week, and I haven't been able to see since." Lowering her head, I was just barely able to see a tear stream down her soft cheek.

"Quinn, I…" Before I could think of anything else to say, not to mention something to actually do, the poor blonde had moved closer to me, holding my hand tightly. She moved slowly as she felt with her free hand where exactly my legs were. I watched as she moved slowly down, resting her head on my lap and laid the rest of her body out on my bed.

"No one seems to notice that there's anything wrong. How… How could people not see that I can't see?" She scoffed.

I blushed with the blonde in my open lap. Her eyes would open, but I knew there was nothing behind the grayish film; she didn't see me staring, but I had no doubt that she felt it. "I don't mean to just… be blatant about it, but how _do _you make it through the school without anyone knowing?"

She blinked. "I don't. I don't hide it or anything, although I do keep my head low when I walk, but not because I'm hiding. I don't see any point in looking up and besides, I keep my balance more easily. Santana and Brittany have to lead me through the school, and I count my steps from the corner to my locker every time I walk to it. I don't see how people don't know about it… But no one seems to. You didn't even notice until today, and that was because I showed you." She laughed a little. "How can someone who is _blind _make it a whole day in that school without someone making fun or at least noticing? It's almost as if something happened, and everyone just stopped caring about the things around them." She closed her eyes. "Not that I care. It makes it easier for me through the days. As if I need to be reminded of this."

"Quinn… You've _never _liked me… Why are you so…? Or how can you just…?" I wasn't even sure of what I was asking. I shook my head, not sure as to what to say.

"I don't know, honestly." She admitted, reading what I was trying to ask. "You just… I'm not sure. I haven't liked you, and now here I am feeling like I can open up to you. What's your angle in tricking me, Berry?" She smiled.

I chuckled lightly. "Maybe, Quinn… You open up, because you know I know how it feels to be invisible…" I sighed softly. "I can relate to no one caring, though not to your exact situation? I have no other explanation than that."

She nodded. "Maybe. Thanks though… For letting me do all of this. I don't mean to just open up and lay all this on you. You're not even the first person I would open up to… No offense." She winced. "Yet, here I am in your house, on your lap…" She sat up. "What am I even doing?"

I shook my head. "Trying to be comfortable while talking about something that only hurts you?"

She shook her head this time. "I shouldn't be here. I have other friends for this, Santana and Brittany." She stood, making her way slowly to the door while pulling out her phone. As she held down a number for the speed dial, I stood, walking over to her.

I could hear the phone ringing as I took her arm, ready to lead her down the stairs. I wasn't going to make her do anything that she didn't want to, and it was obvious that this was hard enough for her. Before the Latina on the other end picked up with a, "Q? Is something wrong?" I said one thing quietly in passing, but it got the effect I was betting on.

"Do you want these friends of yours to know your secret?"


End file.
